Friday, January 15, 2010

Cliffs of Moher & Bunratty Castle

On our last leg of the journey, we had to go see the Cliffs of Moher and the Bunratty Castle. Everything here looks exactly like the books. If you want to save some money, don't bother coming here. All you have to do is flip through a few pages in a text book. The real deal is way better though!

Mom was scared at first to go to the Cliffs. Sometimes, if the wind catches just right and you're too close to the edge, you can fall right off. And that's a very long fall. Dad and I told her we'd tie a rope to her ankle and attach the other side to the car if she wanted us to. You have to make a hike up slippy (aka slippery) sidewalks and paths to get to the top of the cliffs. Once you get up there it's so amazing that you can almost forget how ridiculously cold and windy it is. Almost. It's beautiful...just like everything else in this country.

Next we traveled about 40 minutes to the Bunratty Castle that was built in the 1400s and refurbished a bit in the 1500s. It was a lot smaller on the inside than I'd expected. There were tiny spiral staircases throughout the castle and itty bitty rooms. I completely get why they say "throw them in the dungeon" now. You take about 30 steps down a spiral staircase (and only barely 2 feet wide) and then there's a 10 foot drop to the dungeon. There's no escaping that. Going up top was probably the coolest thing. People on the watch could definitely see people coming from miles away. It was one of the most amazing views I've seen. I'm so very lucky to call this place home!